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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28306653">Red Ribbon Fox</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CasualGravity/pseuds/CasualGravity'>CasualGravity</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, Humor, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Moonfire Big Bang 2020, Numerous Characters Mentioned In Passing, Post-Canon, Temporary Animal Transformation, holiday fic, post-kh3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:06:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,987</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28306653</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CasualGravity/pseuds/CasualGravity</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been seven years since Xehanort's defeat. Lea and Isa have been together and (comfortably) idling in their relationship for almost as long. With most of the young keywielders grown, Radiant Garden moving into the last stages of its reconstruction and Lea's Mark of Mastery behind them, Isa is ready for things to progress. Before Isa can get his plans in order, however, he and Lea are swept up in a skirmish between Merlin and an old adversary—and Lea pays the price.</p><p>Now Isa's left with a boyfriend who's decidedly more vulpine than he was that morning, last minute holiday plans and a gaggle of friends that aren't even pretending to be sympathetic. All things considered, it's not his worst Yule.</p><p>Written for the Moonfire Big Bang 2020.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Isa/Lea (Kingdom Hearts)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>MoonFire Big Bang 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Red Ribbon Fox</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They exited the meeting hall one after another, squinting against the snow-bright grey of late morning as they pulled up their hoods. The snow was coming down slower than it had been earlier, heavy flakes the size of Isa’s palm mixing with the rest of the flurry until he couldn’t see more than a few yards in any direction. Though slippery, it was good snow for play and it wouldn't be long before the local kids took full advantage of it.</p><p>Thankfully, the wind had died down sometime during the couple of hours that they’d been inside so it didn’t feel cold enough that Isa wanted to lay on top of a bed of coals anymore.</p><p>“We’ll see you after the New Year.” Aerith promised. She wrapped Isa in a quick hug before stepping back and taking a pair of red gloves out of her pocket. “Tell Lea and the others we said Hello.”</p><p>“Of course. I hope everyone has a good holiday.” He said, putting on his own gloves before the chill could set in.</p><p>Each Committee member gave him a knowing little ‘<em>good luck</em>’ and waved goodbye as they turned to leave—including Cait Sith, whose paw vanished into Reeve’s hood. Isa lost sight of Aerith first, the pale rose-pink of her jacket washed out in seconds. Eventually, everyone else was just a smear of color at the end of the street, their silhouettes distorted by the snow piling on their heads and shoulders.</p><p>Isa remained under the awning in front of the meeting hall for a few minutes after he saw them turn the corner before he set off towards the market. He would’ve liked nothing more than to head straight home, maybe see Roxas and Xion before they left, but he had a limited amount of time and the meeting had run late. Even if he couldn’t get all of his errands done today, there was one stop he needed to make before Lea arrived.</p><p>The main thoroughfares were mostly clear, the snow flattened into two ‘lanes’ by people coming and going. They were easy to traverse with a little caution, but would likely melt and refreeze into ice in a few hours.</p><p>Isa walked past townsfolk clearing stoops and banking snow against their homes. Most side streets and alleys were untouched or already blocked off by the morning's efforts. All of the bustle sounded miles away under the silencing blanket that the weather provided. More people than he expected to be out passed Isa, they’re breath trailing behind them in the cold. He probably knew most of them, but their hoods were up and their heads were down to keep their faces dry and no one seemed keen on lingering. The lack of interaction made it easy to let muscle memory take over; it also helped that he’d been taking the same route for years.</p><p>Luckily, he hadn’t zoned out completely because he noticed a familiar figure walking towards him, head down against the elements like everyone else. There were few people that Isa would know on sight without even seeing their face. It helped, a little, that he was decently sure that the coat he was seeing was one of his old ones and there weren’t many explanations for the way the falling snow melted the moment it landed on the figure's shoulders either.</p><p>“Is that mine?” Isa blurted out, speaking a little louder than strictly necessary. The figure paused and turned to give him a good once over before perking up noticeably. If Isa hadn’t been sure before, he <em>definitely</em> was then.</p><p>“Isa!” Lea pulled his hood down, running a hand through his hair and Isa did the same, noting with a sliver of annoyance that snow began to collect almost immediately in his hair. Lea approached him, leaning in for a kiss that Isa readily accepted—then he seemed to register what Isa had asked him moments before. “Ha, yea, the Good Fairies still aren’t so big on giving us weather appropriate attire.”</p><p>“I’ve noticed.” He laughed. Then it dawned on him, his elation at seeing Lea tempered immediately by the feeling that he’d been caught in the act. Guess he’d have to find a way to sneak out later. “I wasn’t expecting you until this afternoon.”</p><p>Lea smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling in that way that always turned Isa to putty.</p><p>“Wanted to surprise you—and catch Roxas and Xion before they headed off to wherever Yen Sid is sending them. Mostly surprise you though.” Lea said, playfully brushing some of the snow off of Isa’s shoulders. He fished around in his own pockets until he pulled out a folded square of paper. Isa’s shopping list. “You left this on your fridge, I figured we could get it done today and spend the weekend in.”</p><p>“I like that idea.” He <em>loved</em> that idea—even if he was trying to frantically rearrange his schedule in his head. Isa could feel how warm Lea’s hands were through his gloves when he laced their fingers together. It was just shy of too narrow for them to walk side by side without having to step knee-deep in the snow, but they managed.</p><p>“Noticed you’ve got a, uh, <em>feeding</em> schedule for Bleu? When did that happen?” Lea asked after a minute or two of pleasant silence.</p><p>“I haven’t been able to prove anything—,” Isa started, pausing to rein in his conspiratorial tone. “But I’m pretty sure that old cat has another family in the neighborhood. He was getting fat.”</p><p>Lea gave Isa an amused look, clearly enjoying his boyfriend’s ongoing rivalry with a cat he was ostensibly supposed to like enough to feed and let sleep in his house. </p><p>“What if his secret family feeds him too much?” That wheedling tone. Isa knew when he was being made fun of.</p><p>“Not my problem.” He stated with a dismissive sniff that had Lea burying a laugh in the back of his free hand.</p><p>Isa felt a vibration in his pocket and let go of Lea’s hand to take out his gummiphone. It was a newer model that most of them had been given the year prior; slimmer and with certain features that took into account how many more of them there were than there had been at the beginning (it wasn’t as pressing to know who was calling when there were barely twenty in circulation). Isa didn’t really miss the originals, but after watching Aqua hurl hers at a Heartless in a fit of desperation not long before they were retired he couldn’t say he was without fond memories of them.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>
    <b>[The Favorite 💜]</b><br/>
<em>Turns out Yen Sid’s sending us to Monstropolis. We’ll see you in a few days.</em>
  </p>
</div><p>Isa smiled at his screen before sending a single ‘💙’. After scanning the visible message history to make sure there wasn’t any incriminating evidence of his plans for the next few days he lifted the phone to show Lea the screen. “Xion got ahold of my phone again.”</p><p>“Are they wrong though?” Lea asked, reading Xion’s handiwork. He seemed genuinely delighted like he always did when Isa and the rest of his friends got along, but Isa wasn’t blind to the pinched look between his eyes.</p><p>“No.” He put his gummiphone back in his pocket and took Lea’s hand again, easily falling into step with him again. “I doubt they'd mind if you called them more. I know they aren’t in Twilight Town as often as they used to be.”</p><p>“I guess. I’m trying not to be...“ Lea scratched the back of his head self-consciously, searching for the right word. “Clingy? Things haven’t really gone well for anyone when I’ve gotten clingy.”</p><p>“You’re preaching to the choir there.” Isa assuaged. Those old hurts were water under the bridge—had been for years—but that didn’t mean they were forgotten. He squeezed Lea’s hand a little tighter, softening his grip when Lea returned the gesture.</p><p>The lanes of flattened snow began widening out and becoming more walkable ahead of them as they got closer to heavier foot traffic.</p><p>“Yen Sid thinks I should be ready to take apprentices sometime next summer.”</p><p>“Is that too soon?” Isa asked. He kept his tone neutral to hide his surprise. Lea had been one of the last of the Guardians that had fought Xehanort to get his Mark of Mastery. He excelled with the martial aspects of being a keywielder, but had struggled immensely with the metaphysics. It had taken him two attempts and neither had been easy from what little Isa had been told. “I’d be lying if I said that keyblade tradition didn’t feel too complicated and too vague at the same time to me.”</p><p>“I mean, I don’t know? I’ve only been a master for a year. I was expecting to have to wait a lot longer before I got the green light.” Lea’s brows furrowed. “Aqua’s the only one that’s been taking students though. I don’t think Ven or Riku have any interest—at least not for a few more years. Don’t get me started on Terra.”</p><p>“If Yen Sid ever gets Terra to actually take a student that <em>isn’t</em> Riku, I’ll eat my old Coat.” Isa snorted. Terra was good at making himself scarce when the subject ever came up. He helped Aqua with her apprentices and that seemed to be good enough for him.</p><p>“I think Yen Sid’s given up to be honest.” Lea chuckled dryly. More quietly he said, “I... don’t think I’d do a bad job.”</p><p>Even setting aside the fact that Keyblade Masters past had excelled at keeping the bar on the floor, Isa agreed.</p><p>“I⸻what’s going on over there?”</p><p>They’d turned a corner onto the last street before the main square and been met with a sizable crowd. Contrary to the parts of town that they’d already passed through, the snow wasn’t as packed down and it was clear why. At least thirty people appeared to have stopped what they were doing and clustered together to stare at something. A handful were still holding shovels or carrying armfuls of groceries. Notably, a man Isa recognized as the owner of the accessory shop was half out of his snow clothes as if he’d been in a rush to investigate the commotion.</p><p>“That’s Merlin’s house....” Lea’s voice trailed off. A sliver of trepidation had Isa clenching his jaw before he could get himself under control. The average person in Radiant Garden had very little reason to see Merlin; his presence in town was always unpredictable and there were plenty of local witches around for whatever they might need. He couldn’t imagine what kind of spectacle had caused everyone to stop what they were doing to gawk. “That’s not a good sign.”</p><p>With little more than a shared glance, they closed the distance with the crowd.</p><p>“What’s happening?” Isa asked when they were close enough to get someone’s attention. The first person to acknowledge him was a middle-aged woman with snow in her hair and lashes; her cheeks and ears were red from standing in the cold. She looked just as confused as Isa was starting to feel and had barely opened her mouth to speak when surprised cries erupted from the crowd.</p><p>The sound of wood splintering and a door being flung open was followed by a line of people throwing themselves backwards into the rest of the onlookers in an attempt to give something a wide berth. Several people stumbled; a few fell. Isa caught the woman by her elbow as she was shoved towards him, barely keeping them both from hitting the ground.</p><p>“Are you alright?”</p><p>The woman nodded. That seemed to have been enough excitement for her and several others because the throng of people immediately thinned out, though they didn’t go far.</p><p>“And here I thought Sora’d been exaggerating all these years.” Lea said wonderingly. Isa followed his gaze. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting to see, but what he saw had him doing a double take.</p><p>A familiar bookcase was toddering on the stoop outside of Merlin’s home, aged leatherbound tomes spilling off of its shelves onto the snow like coins spilling out of a purse. It appeared to be trying to navigate the step down. In the center of the crowd was Merlin’s tea table, sans tablecloth, shivering in the cold as if it were alive.</p><p>Isa stared at the unfolding spectacle in disbelief before looking at Lea and then to Merlin’s ruined front door. He could hear a ruckus coming from inside.</p><p>“I expect a lot of things from the circles you and I run in, but this might be a bit much.”</p><p>“I’ll say.” Lea agreed with a sardonic laugh. He began to shove his way through the remaining townsfolk and Isa followed him. “Maybe he’s just doing some rearranging.”</p><p>“Doubtful.”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>Lea’s keyblade came to him in a burst of heat and light that filled the entire street as if the sun had finally broken through the clouds, turning the snow around him to slush and still-falling flakes to steam. Only the shape of the handguard still bore a passing resemblance to the silhouette of his first key and his organization weapons before that. The colors felt too vibrant to look at against the snow.</p><p>They stepped around the bookcase on the stoop, the commotion inside of Merlin’s house becoming clearer as they did.</p><p>“You thought I wouldn’t get out, didn’t you <em>Merlin</em>!” Came a woman’s voice. It sounded older. Shrill.</p><p>“Now, Mim—,” Merlin’s voice that time.</p><p>Isa and Lea poked their heads through the door.</p><p>It was the lack of light that Isa registered first—and then the mess. Well, it was a different mess than he was used to seeing in Merlin’s house. The floor was littered with shattered glass and porcelain, most of Merlin’s good china having been destroyed when the table had...made a run for it? In similar fashion, a trail of books and trampled parchment marked the escape route of the bookcase struggling outside. The whole room smelled of candle smoke and wet firewood.</p><p>Merlin was on the far side of the room, his pointed hat missing, his beard askew and his face cherry-red with indignation; maybe a little fear too. The woman, Mim, wouldn't have looked out of place in Radiant Garden if things were different, but Isa had never seen her before.</p><p>She was older—maybe as old as Merlin—with lilac-colored hair and wild green eyes set in a round face. She was wearing a short purple smock and purple slippers. Her wrinkled hands were clenched into fists at her side and if Merlin looked indignant, she looked <em>furious</em>.</p><p>“I want another duel, Merlin, this time you won’t get the best of me.” Mim pointed an accusatory finger at Merlin and it became clear that the only thing keeping the two from tearing each other to shreds was the overstuffed chair desperately trying to right itself between them. Darkness began to radiate off of her like oily candlesmoke with such intensity it was a wonder the entire street wasn’t infested with Heartless.</p><p>“Do you know her?” He asked, keeping his voice low so only Lea would hear him. Neither of them were being particularly subtle, but Merlin and his unwelcome guest hadn’t noticed them yet and Isa wanted to keep it that way.</p><p>“Why would I? I only just met the Blue Fairy last year.” Lea responded incredulously.</p><p>“There’s another blue fairy?”</p><p>The second chair on the dais fell sideways with a loud crash, dumping more of its clutter all over the floor.</p><p>“No purple dragons—OR dragons of any other color for that matter!” Merlin shouted, his characteristic stutter growing more apparent.</p><p>“NO. GERMS.” A kettle flew off of the brick stove and past Merlin’s head, striking the wall an inch from Lea’s ear. Both sorcerers turned to look at them, their argument effectively derailed with the realization that they were no longer alone.</p><p>“Long story. Let’s discuss that later.” Lea didn’t break eye contact with either Mim or Merlin as he said it. “Is there a problem here?”</p><p>Neither of them had any right to look as surprised about having an audience as they did. Mim recovered first. Her fury visibly melted away from one heartbeat to the next, cruel interest shimmering in her eyes. Her smile was jagged with missing teeth.</p><p>“Oh, Merlin. New Wards?”</p><p>“They’re not involved.” Merlin shut down her baiting comment too quickly and all of them knew it. The room went deathly silent, save for the steady ticking of the clock on the wall.</p><p>And then chaos.</p><p>Isa expected Mim to produce a wand or a staff—all but one or two sorcerers that he knew required a focus—but she simply threw out a hand and an arc of dark magic hurtled across the room towards them. Lea moved to counter it instinctively with a fire spell, the first sparks dancing off of his keyblade, when he seemed to realize that fire in an enclosed space was the <em>opposite</em> of a good plan. Too little, too late. The fireball loosed from his keyblade, igniting the litter on the floor and meeting Mim’s spell in the middle with enough force that the air pressure in the room changed.</p><p>Isa held up an arm to shield his face, stamping down the urge to summon his claymore. Smoke and embers filled the room and somewhere above it all, so too did Mim’s shrieking laughter.</p><p>“No more fire.” Isa coughed.</p><p>“Yea, <em>got it</em>!” Lea cast water spells next; three of them, one after another—all weaker than his weakest fire spell—until the smoke cleared and there was no more threat of fire. The detritus all over the floor was left both singed <em>and</em> soggy. Merlin and Mim were nowhere in sight, but they could hear something scampering over wood. “Where did they go?”</p><p>Lea and Isa looked around frantically trying to find the source of the noise.</p><p>The broken front door slammed shut with a startling ‘<em>BANG!</em>’, plunging the already dim interior into complete darkness save for the light radiating from Lea’s keyblade. The scampering became the rake of claws above them.</p><p>Isa looked up and into the slavering purple jaws of a wyrm. He had just a fraction of a second to think, deliriously, ‘<em>Well, it isn’t technically a dragon</em>’ before Mim lunged.</p><p>“<em>ISA!</em>”</p><p>Several things happened next in quick succession. A mass of blue feathers intercepted Mim, but not before a gout of magic escaped her jaws. Isa hesitated, torn between moving out of the way and drawing a weapon to block and, embarrassingly, doing <em>neither</em> of those things. In the fraction of a second where Isa expected to feel the impact of a spell and its effects hitting him head on, Lea grabbed him by the arm and threw him towards the dais on the other side of the room.</p><p>Isa struck the ground hard, pain shooting through his arm and his heart racing in his chest. Above him was a flailing, nearly amorphous knot of blue and purple; feathers, scales and fur. What little light there was vanished.</p><p>“Lea!?”</p><p>Isa tried to stand and failed.</p><p>And then⸻</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-</p>
</div><p>The familiar sensation of a minor cure spell passed over him, warming him from head to toe and leaving his skin tingling in its wake.</p><p>“Ah, there you are. Right as rain.”</p><p>Isa opened his eyes and blinked rapidly until his vision cleared. His temples were pounding and the side of his head felt a little raw. Pressing gently at the pain with his fingers, he found no blood. Sure that he had no lasting injuries, he looked around expecting to see the carnage he’d walked in on.</p><p>The lights in the house were back on again, the interior returned to the sleepy red-orange glow that he was used to. Isa could hear the crackle of a fire under the brick stove. Merlin himself showed no evidence of the state of dishevelment Isa had seen him in, as he whimsically waved his displaced furniture in through the open door. Save for what little was left of the mess beyond Merlin’s usual clutter, it was almost as if Mim hadn’t been there at all.</p><p>Isa startled.</p><p>“What happened? Where’s Lea? What happened to that witch?” The questions tumbled out of his mouth before he could think of a single one to focus on as he turned in a full circle looking for any sign of his boyfriend. In his distraction he barely managed to move his foot out of the way of a disgruntled looking sugar dish trying to make its way to the tea table. If Merlin noticed the growing alarm in Isa’s voice, he didn’t let on.</p><p>“I have to take care of a few things but you should know it could have been much worse.” Merlin said airily, noticeably answering none of Isa’s questions. An easy gesture at the front door had it shuddering as splintered wood slipped back into place and the hinges bent themselves to shape again. A sharp jab of annoyance bloomed inside of Isa’s chest and he had to clench his fists to keep it from becoming aggression.</p><p>“What could have been worse? Where’s Lea?” He asked again. Making his way over to Merlin, he saw the coat Lea had been wearing on the floor, along with a familiar off-yellow scarf he hadn’t noticed earlier. It was something Xion had made years ago before they’d abandoned knitting for more appealing hobbies. They hadn’t made many, but Isa knew that Lea had kept most of them, uneven edges and all. “Merlin⸺”</p><p>Merlin held up a hand to silence him and then, with one final wave of the other he cleared the last of the disarray.</p><p>“Now then…” The old wizard made his way over to a writing desk piled high with broken-spined tomes and Cid’s spare tools before bending down to grab at something underneath it. A fox of all things, was <em>not</em> what Isa expected Merlin to be holding when he stood upright again. He watched dumbly as Merlin approached him and unceremoniously dumped the wriggling animal into his arms. It was hard to get a good look at it while he was holding it, but Isa knew for a fact that it was half again as big as any fox he’d ever seen. It’s fur seemed a bit off too. Too red; not as coarse as it should be. There was a plaid bandana tied around its neck.</p><p>Oh no.</p><p>“What⸺” The fox—<em>Lea</em>—tried to squirm out of his grip, but Isa held him tighter. Maybe a little too tightly. He couldn’t help it though, he was starting to panic. “Merlin, you have to turn him back. <em>Right now</em>. You have to.”</p><p>“I’m afraid I can’t, my boy.” Merlin said, at least having the courtesy to sound somewhat apologetic. He picked up his briefcase and cane from where they were set next to the door. “Take good care of him. He should be back to himself in a few days.”</p><p>Merlin’s outline started to grow fuzzy, small pinpricks of light forming in the air around him. He was about to leave.</p><p>“A few days? No, he can’t stay like this for a few days.” Isa sputtered. “Yule is in three days. <em>MERLIN</em>!”</p><p>He called for the old wizard again to no avail. Merlin was already gone.</p><p>Isa stood dead center in the middle of the room, dumbfounded, for nearly a minute. How had his day gone so completely off the rails?</p><p>Lea twisted in his arms, tail starting to lash. Double-checking to make sure the door was closed and Lea couldn’t escape, Isa carefully set him down. Lea bolted back under the desk as soon as his paws touched stone. Numbly, Isa fished his gummiphone out of his pocket. He opened a tab that he rarely bothered with and dreaded interacting with most days. He’d grown to love his and Lea’s friends very dearly, but a group chat with more than twenty people was a direct attack on his calm.</p><p>They only used it during emergencies for just that reason. It only took a single stone to send ripples through an entire pond though.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>
    <b>[You]</b><br/>
<em>If ANY of you sees Merlin before I do, tell him to come back to Radiant Garden IMMEDIATELY.</em>
  </p>
</div><p>Isa channeled every ounce of anger he was feeling into each letter he typed, bending down to pick up Lea’s yellow scarf and loop it a couple of times around his own neck. After sending the message, he immediately put his phone on silent and crammed it back into his pocket. It was already vibrating when he bent down again to grab the coat and fold it over his arm.</p><p>Closing his eyes, he took a few moments to breathe deeply through his nose until the risk—no, the <em>urge</em>—to berserk diminished. He had a good streak going and he wasn’t about to let it be ruined, no matter how good it might feel in the moment.</p><p>“Now to figure out how to get you home.” He muttered, making his way over to the desk where Lea was watching him intently with inquisitive green eyes. Another feature atypical of real foxes. “Of course you’re cute. Can you understand me?”</p><p>Lea cocked his head to the side, one ear flicking. There was no discernible change in expression or recognition. Very cute, but… not the answer he was looking for. That made things more difficult.</p><p>“Ok, then. It looks like you’re not in there. I’ll just have to get you home and figure something out from there.” He took the coat off his arm and Lea, clearly far and away smarter than he had any right to be in his current form, bolted upon realizing what Isa was trying to do. Isa sighed. “Lea.”</p><p>He turned to see Lea’s tail disappear under the tablecloth.</p><p>“This doesn’t need to be this difficult, Lea.” Isa called, holding the wool coat in his hands at the ready. His apartment was still several minutes walk from here and there was no telling what would go wrong if he lost his grip on Lea on the way there. That aside, he also didn’t want to play tag for the rest of the day. “Fine. Have it your way.”</p><p>Isa grabbed a worn book from on top of the desk, testing the weight in his hands with a few small tosses, before lobbing it onto the dining table. Lea burst out from under the tablecloth, paws scrabbling on the stone, and had nearly managed to duck into another hiding spot when Isa grabbed him. He took several sharp paws to the cheek before he had Lea effectively wrapped in the coat and immobilized. Lea squirmed in his arms, attempting to get free before realizing it was futile and resorting to shrill, pitiful barks.</p><p>“Save it for someone who’s capable of pity.” Isa said. Pityingly. He wasted no time, taking long strides to the door and stepping outside—all the while keeping a tight grip on the struggling weight in his arms.</p><p>The crowd was long gone, either dispersed by Merlin after Mim had been dealt with or by disinterest. It had stopped snowing too, rays of afternoon sunlight just starting to break through the thinning cloud cover. There was hardly any evidence of the mayhem from that morning, except a handful of deep gouges in the snow where Merlin’s furniture had come and gone on the stoop. Yuletide decorations hanging from lampposts and rooftops were visible again, their vivid colors encased in a new layer of ice.</p><p>It was all very lovely, but Isa didn’t pay much attention to it. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d walked so quickly and with such single-mindedness. Occasionally, someone would greet him in passing or look at the ball of distinct red fur in his arms with thinly veiled suspicion. As far as Isa was concerned, they could think whatever they wanted. That he’d turned his own boyfriend into an animal wouldn't be the worst rumor spread about him since his return to Radiant Garden.</p><p>Lea would probably find it hilarious when he was back to normal.</p><p>The stairs leading up to his second floor apartment had been shoveled some time after he’d left that morning. There was a layer of untouched snow over them (probably because they were cleared while it was still snowing) but they weren’t as much of a struggle to climb as he was expecting. Isa’s arms were aching by the time he put Lea, barking melodramatically, under his arm and began to fish through his pockets for his keys.</p><p>“Times like this are enough to make me envious of keyblades.” He muttered, finally managing to unlock the door and shove it open with his boot. He was quick to shut it again, nearly dropping Lea in his haste as the fox began to struggle with renewed enthusiasm. He rolled Lea out of the coat and didn’t try to stop him when he ran into the living room and hopped onto the couch. He was obviously more comfortable in Isa’s home than he was Merlin’s.</p><p>Everything was mostly as he’d left it. The boughs of pine he’d collected the night before were still laid out on a towel on his kitchen table, waiting to be hung with the rest of the sparse decorations he kept. It’d become somewhat of a tradition to celebrate the holiday together in either Twilight Town or the Land of Departure, so he didn’t bother to decorate as thoroughly as he otherwise might’ve. The most Isa ever had for a tree was a small cast-off on one of his side tables, adorned with painted popsicle sticks and small bells to keep its branches from being too weighed down.</p><p>Looking at those things now, it finally struck Isa that he’d both had his original plans put back on track <em>and</em> lost out on a weekend with Lea. It stung.</p><p>Isa stretched until some of the soreness left his arms and then removed his boots. He emptied the contents of his coat pockets on the kitchen table as he passed, mindful of the fact that there were probably dozens of concerned messages from his friends waiting for a response. When he went to stow both of their coats in the hall closet, he found two unmarked cardboard boxes.</p><p>“I get to wrap <em>your</em> presents too this weekend, don’t I?” Isa called as he hung both coats and unwound the scarf from his neck. It wasn’t really a surprise. Lea squirrelling away to-be wrapped gifts at Isa’s place was as much of a holiday tradition for them as anything else was. When he’d shown up with an armful of presents that first year, Isa had asked why he couldn’t just hide them in one of the dozens of rooms in the Old Mansion and Lea had replied, cheekily, with ‘<em>Doors don’t really stay locked at my place</em>’. “I’m starting to feel like you orchestrated all of this to get out of holiday prep.”</p><p>He received a dismissive sneeze in reply.</p><p>“I’ll take that as an admission of guilt. You’ll be hearing about this when you’re capable of human speech again.” He said as he padded into the living room and switched on the little secondhand radio tucked away on one of his bookshelves. The tinny sound of an old pre-Fall radio show filled the space—and the void where Lea’s backtalk would be if their morning hadn’t gone so awry. He watched Lea’s pointed ears tip with passing interest toward the radio and back up again as he investigated the cat bed in the hearth. Again, Isa could see no discernible sign of recognition or memory even with more familiar scents and surroundings. “We’ll have to see if you and Bleu are still friends while you’re like that.”</p><p>His munny was on no.</p><p>Lea moved on from the cat’s things and began to slink around the rest of the room, relearning things that he should’ve already known. The little part of Isa that’d been hoping for even the smallest sign that Lea was still in there soured.</p><p>Mostly confident that Lea could handle a few minutes unsupervised, Isa stepped into the kitchen. He briefly entertained the idea of checking his phone before setting that idea aside to make himself a bowl of cereal in hopes that food would return a little bit of the motivation that the day’s events had sapped out of him.</p><p>This led to him remembering that he was supposed to go grocery shopping. A little bit more of his patience eroded.</p><p>He was in the process of combining the remainder of two cereals that wouldn’t be completely offensive to his taste buds when he heard his gummiphone begin to vibrate across the kitchen table. Sighing, he picked it up and then promptly found himself squinting at the screen.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>
    <b>[Rock Salt Calling…]</b>
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</div><p>Who…? Oh.</p><p>“Tell Xion they have <em>got</em> to stop changing my contacts.” He snapped the second Roxas’s blond head appeared onscreen. He could see the interior of a gummiship in the background, so either they’d already finished whatever business they had in Monstropolis or they hadn’t landed yet. Roxas looked at him with wide eyes, visibly wrong-footed by his statement before a voice offscreen caught his attention. He looked back at Isa.</p><p>“<em>Xion says stop leaving your phone laying around if you don’t want them to mess with it.</em>” Roxas relayed. Isa felt the corners of his lips turn up a bit, but he managed to keep his expression stern as he opened his fridge. He had just enough milk left to keep his cereal from tasting like sharp cardboard. There was a pause. “<em>Wait. Don’t change the subject. We’ve been trying to get ahold of you for a couple of hours now. Lea wouldn’t answer his phone.</em>”</p><p>“We ran into a bit of trouble this morning. Everything’s mostly fine.” Isa said, grabbing a spoon out of the silverware drawer. He set his gummiphone on the stand he kept on his counter. It was intended to hold a book open to keep your hands free, but he generally got more use out of it with his phone. “Don’t bother calling Lea for a few days though.”</p><p>“<em>‘<b>Mostly fine</b>’? Where’s Lea?</em>” There was a tremor of alarm in Roxas’s voice. Isa could hear Xion speaking too, but their voice was too muffled to make out without actually having the phone in his hands. Isa stirred his cereal and took a bite, hoping that his lack of urgency would douse some of their panic. He would need to explain what had happened to <em>someone</em>, but it was a long story and he was tired. The decision was made for him though when the sound of ripping fabric drowned out the sound of the radio. “<em>What was that?</em>”</p><p>Isa sighed.</p><p>Putting his bowl of cereal on the counter and picking his phone back up, he went back into the living room.</p><p>“Behold. The man I’ve chosen to spend the rest of my life with.” He proclaimed, his voice as dry as the sands of Agrabah. He turned the camera in his hand to give Roxas a complete view of Lea diligently tearing the filling out of one of his good throw pillows. After a few seconds of them both drinking in the sight, Roxas unmistakably flabbergasted, Isa snatched the remains of the pillow from Lea who had the <em>gall</em> to look annoyed with him.</p><p>“<em>You’re kidding.</em>” Roxas said after several long seconds of stunned silence.</p><p>“Does this really seem like the type of joke I would make?” Isa asked incredulously. He was all for pranks and roughhousing, but he definitely drew the line at making all of his friends think that something terrible had happened. People going missing or narrowly avoiding a stay in the Final World was a common enough occurrence in their circle that that kind of humor was just unnecessary stress.</p><p>“<em>Well, no.</em>” Roxas conceded. He looked offscreen again. “<em>Xion come look at this.</em>”</p><p>There was some shuffling from what Isa assumed was the pilot’s console before Xion pressed their face in close with Roxas’s to get a good look. Unlike Roxas, Xion’s reaction was instantaneous.</p><p>“<em>Oh, my go...Is that <b>Lea</b>?</em>” They whispered in disbelief, shoving Roxas even further to the side to get a better view. “<em>What happened?</em>”</p><p>“We made the mistake of getting in the middle of a scuffle between Merlin and some witch I haven’t seen before.” It was a simple enough explanation. He paused long enough to swat Lea with the remains of the pillow in his hands when Lea, having grown bored with the attention he was getting, started eying the pillow on the opposite end of the couch. Lea jumped down onto the floor and disappeared under the coffee table with an indignant bark. Xion’s face grew visibly pinched. Isa knew they’d be holding Lea if they were in the room. “It would be me in this predicament if Lea hadn’t stepped in.”</p><p>“<em>And Merlin didn’t change him back?</em>” Roxas asked. He was completely out of sight, apparently having relinquished his phone to Xion.</p><p>“No. He wouldn’t tell me why either. He said it should wear off in a few days.” Isa hoped he’d been right.</p><p>“<em>What if it doesn’t?</em>” Xion asked, the same thought he’d been grimly entertaining since Merlin dropped Lea into his arms occurring to them as well. They <em>did</em> have options if the worst came to pass, but even if most of the witches, sorcerers and fairies they knew were less mercurial than Merlin, they were all about as difficult to track down most days. “<em>I mean, it looks like his clothes changed with him, but I don’t think any of us has gotten hit hard enough with a spell like that that we just… forgot we were human.</em>”</p><p>“If I wake up on Yule morning and Lea isn’t human, it would be in Merlin’s best interest if he never set foot in Radiant Garden ever again.” Isa stated icily. He shoved the ruined pillow into the trashcan on his way back into the kitchen and set his phone back on the stand. His cereal was soggy. “For now, we’ll have to assume everything will be fine. I’ll let everyone know not to worry. ”</p><p>“<em>Good. We have other stops to make so we probably won’t see you till we’re there to pick you up for the party.</em>” Roxas said, taking his phone back from Xion. “<em>You want us to call in reinforcements?</em>”</p><p>Isa took a few bites of his cereal.</p><p>“I’m sure I can survive three days.” And he was. Mostly. The chore list he had was starting to look especially daunting. “I’m picking up the ring tomorrow, I’ll send you pictures. Stay safe.”</p><p>“<em>Have fun.</em>” Roxas laughed, just barely managing to be heard over Xion yelling, “<em>Take pictures of Lea too!!</em>”</p><p>Isa smiled as the screen went dark. He leaned against the counter and finished his cereal in silence.</p><p>It was still pretty early, but the sunlight streaming through the kitchen window had already started to take on the deep oranges and lilacs of evening. At best, there was an hour of day left and that just seemed like too much for Isa. He couldn’t just call the day a wash and go to bed early though.</p><p>After rinsing his dishes in the sink and soaking the half-finished bowl of oatmeal that someone—<em>Roxas</em>—had left to turn to glue, he began the process of hanging boughs of pine on the walls so he could say that he got at least one thing done. It wasn’t difficult work, but it was slow with only one pair of hands and the constant interruption from friends messaging him. By the time he’d gotten most of the way through the pile, it was fully dark, his hands were sticky with pine sap, and he’d taken a new picture of Lea napping on the cat bed for every friend that asked for one.</p><p>He’d managed to restore most of his contacts to something recognizable too. Except Xion’s. And Ienzo’s. It’d taken him an embarrassing amount of time to figure out who ‘<em>Fringe Theory</em>’ was supposed to be and it had given him too much of a laugh not to keep—at least for a few more days.</p><p>The radio show that’d been droning on for the better part of an hour slowly transitioned to the soft, homey jazz that was popular with many of the people that had returned from Traverse Town. Isa finished hanging the rest of the pine and then spread the extra branches around the picture frames on the mantle. He had just gone to grab the last of the decorations he intended to put up when he noticed a small, blue-grey shape enter the living room from the hallway.</p><p>“Oh, good.” He muttered. He’d just been feeling like his stress was back down to manageable levels. “I’d been wondering where you were Bleu.”</p><p>Bleu Cheese was a very cute cat and was endlessly lucky for it, because Isa couldn’t think of another pet he’d owned that was so ready to cause problems. He’d had a certain amount of appreciation for that temperament when he’d taken Bleu in after his recompletion, but nothing good ever came of the old tomcat chasing his penchant for trouble. He’d only gotten more ornery with age too. Xion had given Bleu his name and was one of the few people spared from his temper.</p><p>Isa watched the fur along Bleu’s spine stand on end and then followed his line of sight to Lea, still blissfully unaware on the cat bed.</p><p>“You were asleep in the guest room, you don’t get to be mad that someone took your bed.” Isa said, knowing full well that what he said was irrelevant. Bleu was petty above all else and had never come across a fight he didn’t want to pick. The old cat’s torn ears flattened and he started to rock on his haunches. “<em>Don’t</em>.”</p><p>Bleu gave him a look that could be interpreted as nothing but a challenge and then he lunged. Isa made a grab for the cat as he ran by his legs, but he was too slow and could only watch, dismayed, as Bleu bowled into Lea. Lea woke instantly, yipping and jumping out of the hearth and onto the coffee table. A stack of coasters and the magazines Isa kept telling himself he’d get to went flying in every direction. Both of them were a red and blue streak racing over the back of the couch before Isa could even register enough of what was going on to separate them.</p><p>They disappeared into the kitchen and then his apartment was filled with the sound of chairs and claws screeching over hardwood floors.</p><p>Isa had no way of knowing why nothing else that day had done it, but in that moment, something in him snapped.</p><p>“That is <em>it</em>.”</p><p>He stomped over to the door and yanked his boots on, before going into the kitchen where Lea and Bleu were staring each other down from the kitchen table and counter, respectively. Both of their tails were lashing wildly. Bleu had worked himself into a hissing arch.</p><p>Before either of them could make another go at one another, Isa grabbed Bleu by the scruff of his neck and lifted him off of the counter. He didn’t slow down to entertain the look of utter betrayal Bleu was surely giving him or put on a coat as he stepped outside into the cold. He took the stairs two at a time and pulled Bleu to his chest so he could knock, loudly, on his downstairs neighbor’s door.</p><p>There was a brief moment where he felt a touch of guilt for the hour; It was well past dinner time and most people would be winding down for the night. Isa knew <em>he</em> wanted to wind down for the night. That wasn’t going to happen if he didn’t get things under control though.</p><p>He lifted his hand to knock again, but stopped short when he heard the sound of latches being undone. The door cracked open and his neighbor, Lisle, poked her head out to squint curiously up at him. The glasses he usually saw her wearing were missing and her moss-colored hair was pinned into curlers. He’d caught her as she was getting ready for bed. Oh, well.</p><p>“What was all that noise upstai—”</p><p>“I know you’ve been feeding my cat.” That’s not what he’d meant to lead with. He held Bleu out for her to see, careful to support his hindquarters.</p><p>“Should… Should I stop?” She asked, blinking at him. She opened her door a little wider and crossed her arms over her chest to ward off some of the cold.</p><p>“Yes—<em>no</em>. This is very sudden but could you take him for the weekend?” Isa tried to pitch his tone to sound as polite as possible, but judging by the look on her face he must’ve overshot into sounding manic.</p><p>“I can’t, sorry, I’m leaving town tomorrow night.” To her credit she seemed genuinely apologetic. That’s right. He remembered her closing up her tea shop for the holidays.</p><p>“Just for tonight then? You can turn him loose as soon as you leave, he’ll find his way back upstairs.” It was times like this that he <em>envied</em> the amount of pathos Lea could cram into his eyes. He hadn’t had nearly enough appreciation for how much trouble that had gotten them out of as kids.</p><p>Lisle studied his face for a moment, before looking at Bleu. She sighed, uncrossing her arms.</p><p>“Just for tonight.” She acquiesced. Isa felt the tension drain from his shoulders.</p><p>“<em>Thank you</em>.” He held Bleu a little more tightly for a moment, whispering, “I <em>am</em> mad at you, you know what you did, but you can come back later.” before passing the purring cat to Lisle. Lisle laughed.</p><p>“I’m going back inside now, you have a good night.”</p><p>“You as well and thank you again.” He tried, with great difficulty, to keep the visceral relief out of his voice and managed that with minimal success too.</p><p>He gave her a little wave as she closed the door, Bleu looking over her shoulder with a guilt-inducing pout that Isa returned with a glare, and then started to make his way back up to his apartment. If it had happened earlier in the day, Isa might’ve been surprised to see a fox head poking out of the cat door when he got to the second floor landing, instead he was just happy that Lea was slightly too big to have squeezed out and vanished into the night.</p><p>“Get back inside.”</p><p>Lea’s head disappeared.</p><p>Lea circled him excitedly as he kicked his boots off again and slid the cover over the cat door. Just in case.</p><p>“Oh, you like me now that I’ve saved you from an elderly cat three times smaller than you, huh?” Isa chuckled tiredly. Lea chattered back at him and stood on his hind legs until Isa got the message and bent down to scratch at his ears. “That witch sapped all the courage out of you when she turned you into this, didn’t she?”</p><p>Lea continued to follow Isa as he did the bare minimum to get ready for bed. He turned off all the lights, telling himself he’d clean up the day's mess in the morning before brushing his teeth and changing into his pajamas. When he switched off his bedroom light and threw himself face down into his pillows, Lea jumped up after him. He had just enough energy to set his alarm before he was spent.</p><p>Half asleep, he watched Lea curl up in the spot where he’d sleep if he were human.</p><p>“Next time a witch has a bone to pick with Merlin, we’re just going to let it happen.” He mumbled. One of Lea’s fluffy ears flicked towards him. He chose to interpret that as agreement. “Either that or <em>I</em> get to spend the weekend as a woodland animal.”</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>Isa closed his eyes with a frown and drifted to sleep listening to Lea’s quiet breaths, hoping they might sound familiar.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-</p>
</div><p>Isa managed, surprisingly, to wake up for his alarm clock the next morning, though he felt a little fried. Lea was still laying next to him, but had migrated to the foot of the bed at some point to stretch out in the square of sunlight pouring in through his window. He allowed himself an extra twenty minutes to be useless and lay staring at the ceiling, before he couldn’t put off his morning routine any longer.</p><p>After showering and getting dressed he pulled the last of the usable food out of the fridge to cobble together some breakfast for Lea and himself. Being a member of the Restoration Committee and friends with world-hopping keywielders meant that he had guests coming and going all the time, but he still lived alone and tended to only buy things as he needed them. His fridge being empty wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, though the last twenty-four hours had highlighted how inconvenient it could be at times.</p><p>He’d just finished making omelettes for himself and Lea, who was determined to make his morning as exciting as possible by remaining underfoot, when he heard three sharp knocks at his front door.</p><p>He glanced at the clock on his wall and switched off the stovetop.</p><p>“A bit early for visitors.” He said to Lea, who only had eyes for the plate of food in his hands. Isa set it down on the floor and went to answer the door. He half expected to see Lisle on his doorstep ready to dump Bleu back into his arms, but was surprised instead by⸺“Skuld.”</p><p>“Isa.” She kept a straight face as she said his name, but smiled when his uncaffeinated confusion intensified.</p><p>“Did Aqua send you?” He asked, already stepping aside to let her in. She was dressed head to toe in soft grays and blacks, the neckline of her shirt plunging just low enough for him to make out the start of the X-shaped scar over her heart. Even the reminder of it had his fingers twitching with the desire to trace the outline of his own scar.</p><p>“Ventus, actually. Also I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d help you out.” She answered, stomping half melted snow from her boots before taking them off. “Where’s Lea?”</p><p>“Eating. We’re having eggs this morning.” He took her coat for her after she removed it and hung it on the back of a dining chair as he led her into the kitchen. The plate of food he’d put on the floor had already been licked clean and Lea was doing his best to grab Isa’s plate off the counter. He was large enough to get both of his front paws up, but hadn’t committed to just jumping up yet. “Lea.”</p><p>Lea’s ears perked up. He dropped back down to all fours and slunk guiltily under the table.</p><p>“Oh my god....” Skuld gasped. She was crouching next to the table before the last syllable was out of her mouth, beckoning Lea to her. He came to her with no hesitation, the tip of his tail twitching curiously. His trepidation evaporated the moment she dragged her long nails gently over his spine. She always ended up the favorite of any animal that let her pet them. “Wow, you’re never living this down. You’re never going to win an argument again.”</p><p>“I’m sure he’ll know that as soon as he’s back to normal.” Isa laughed. He leaned back against the counter to watch her play with Lea and started to pick at his omelette. “Would you like some coffee or tea? I don’t really have any food to offer you, but if you’re here to help out we can pick something up.”</p><p>“Don’t worry, I already ate. I’ll take a cup of coffee if it’s not too much trouble though.” Skuld had pulled her gummiphone out of her pocket and was taking pictures. “Just one scoop of sugar.”</p><p>Isa made her coffee and set it on the table. By the time she’d deemed her new stock of argument-killing blackmail photos adequate, he’d finished his breakfast and her coffee had probably gotten cold.</p><p>“How long are you in town?” Isa asked her as she pulled out a chair and took a few tentative sips of her drink. Her brows furrowed ever-so-slightly upon realizing that it <em>had</em> gotten cold, but she didn’t ask him to reheat it and probably wouldn’t let him either.</p><p>“Just a few hours. I need something up at the Castle, but it’s going to be a while before Ienzo’s available.” Isa hummed knowingly in response to her explanation. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to keep her distance from the Castle. A lot of the bad blood between Ansem, his apprentices and almost <em>everyone</em> else had been worked through over the years, but the bad blood was still there and it probably always would be. Ienzo spent just as much time as a go-between for everyone as he did on his research most days. “Besides, I hear you haven’t picked up the ring yet and I wanted to see it.”</p><p>“So you’re here to be nosy, then. I see how it is.”</p><p>“You got me.” She smiled, tapping out a rhythm on her coffee mug with one hand and scratching at Lea’s ears with the other. “When do you wanna head out?”</p><p>“We can go in a few minutes.” He said after a few moments of thought, rinsing both his and Lea’s plates out in the sink and beginning to scrub the bowl he’d left to soak the night before. He loaded everything into his dishwasher and started it.</p><p>“What about Lea?”</p><p>Isa didn’t necessarily <em>like</em> the idea of leaving Lea to his own devices in his home—he’d already proven to be destructive and codependent in his current form—but he also wasn’t thrilled at the thought of him potentially getting loose while they were out.</p><p>“He should be fine here. I doubt my apartment will be, but I’ll consider that an acceptable loss.” The most he’d probably have to replace would be the pillows on his couch. Those seemed to be the only focus of his destructive behavior so far. Isa paused mid-step and stared at his boyfriend. Lea <em>had</em> told Isa he hated them when he bought them... “Besides, I don’t think it’ll take more than a couple of hours to get everything I’ll need.”</p><p>“Whatever works for you.”</p><p>They spent a few more minutes catching up with each other while Skuld finished her coffee and then both bundled up to go outside.</p><p>It was warmer than it had been the day before, the sun shining down and not a cloud in the sky. That meant that significant portions of the street were filled with mud and slush. Pedestrians out to run errands and enjoy the brief stint of good weather wove around puddles and potholes like ants. Skuld and Isa were no different. They stuck close to one another, talking amiably one moment and then comically raising their voices when they had to move several paces apart to avoid ending up knee deep in a mud slurry.</p><p>They decided to pick up the ring first. It wouldn’t take long and it was better to get it out of the way while they weren’t loaded down with groceries.</p><p>“This the place?” Skuld asked. The building was one of the few pre-Fall structures still standing that wasn’t the Castle. Most things about it were new, but the brick was noticeably aged and covered in layers of dead and regrown ivy. A cracked wooden sign hung above the door proclaiming ‘<em>Hammer &amp; Vice</em>’. The young woman cleaning forge-black from the windows inside gave them a little wave and resumed her work.</p><p>“Only one in town. There are more options in places like Twilight Town, but Cora does good work. She made a lot of the materials we’ve been using to restore some of the older structures here.” Isa explained. They both stepped inside, their eyes adjusting to the low light until they could see the front counter and the work area behind it. The wall nearest the door was crowded with bins full of roughly made nails and other tools. Various weapons were on display, hanging on the walls out of reach of wandering hands. On the counter sat a glass case filled with a handful of beautifully made unenchanted amulets and rings that seemed out of place amongst all of the more rustically made crafts. Isa turned and looked at the girl in the window. “Is your mother in, Etta?”</p><p>“Uh-huh, I’ll go get her.” She set her things down and disappeared behind the counter. Another woman appeared moments later, pulling off thick leather work gloves and tossing them onto the shop counter. Her white hair was pulled back from her face and her bare arms were sinewy and muscular from decades of rough work. None of the laugh lines you’d expect from a woman her age were present, but her brown eyes were wreathed in the evidence of long life and hardship.</p><p>“There you are. I was expecting you yesterday.” Cora said. She pulled a cloth from the cinch of her apron and wiped the sweat from her face.</p><p>“Sorry… there were complications.” That was putting it mildly. “Is it ready?”</p><p>“Been ready.” The old smith bent down beneath the counter with a grunt and began rifling through whatever was stored there. Both Isa and Skuld pressed in close to get a better look. “Don’t know how long I’m gonna be able to do work like this, my hands aren’t what they used to be. Had to have my daughter finish the job.”</p><p>She set a small velvet box on the counter.</p><p>Lea and Isa had discussed getting married six months into dating. They’d both been amenable to it, excited even, but at the time their lives had been too inconsistent; still too dangerous, even with Xehanort long gone. Then they’d just fallen comfortably into the way things were. Isa wasn’t exactly sure when he’d decided it was time to propose. Several memories came to mind, each older than the last. When it came down to it, Isa always knew he’d marry Lea; it was just a question of when.</p><p>The ring was a slim silver band, polished impeccably and crusted sparsely with sapphire. It looked like stars on a silver sky. Not a common style in Radiant Garden, but it was exactly what he’d wanted. Isa carefully ran a finger over it to feel the gems against his skin.</p><p>“It’s beautiful.” Skuld said softly. Isa hummed, a cocktail of pride and giddiness welling up in his chest until he felt like it might split open.</p><p>“Roxas and Xion had a lot of say in it. I don’t think I would’ve decided on something if they hadn’t insisted on bullying me into it.” He closed the ring box and pulled out his wallet. He placed the munny he owed in Cora’s outstretched hand. Once she’d counted it and given him a nod of assent, Isa slipped the ring into his pocket. “Thank you. You both do good work.”</p><p>“I should hope so, as long as I’ve been at this.” Cora laughed. She picked her work gloves up off the counter and put them back on. “Let me know how it goes.”</p><p>Isa didn’t miss how Cora’s eyes shot knowingly to Skuld as she said it.</p><p>“Of course.” Isa said. “We’d stay longer but it looks like you’re busy and we’ve still got other errands to run.”</p><p>“Don’t let me keep you then.”</p><p>All of them exchanged goodbyes before Isa and Skuld stepped back out onto the street, holding the door for a gaggle of workmen heading in to buy tools. Cora’s shop was at the mouth of the main thoroughfare through the market so they didn’t have to go far for the rest of what they needed, but it was close to noon already and it was the last good shopping day before the holiday. Throngs of people were pressed in together around stalls and open shop doors. The smell of cooking food hung heavy in the air.</p><p>It took them longer than it would’ve normally to get everything on their list, but it wasn’t a totally unpleasant experience. Isa held the ring box in his pocket like a worry stone up until he needed both hands to carry groceries. The sun was already starting its early descent to the horizon by the time they climbed the stairs back up to Isa’s apartment with arms full of paper and plastic bags.</p><p>Lea greeted them at the door. Vocally.</p><p>“Looks like everything is still in one piece.” Skuld said as she set the groceries on the kitchen table and shook the feeling back into her arms.</p><p>“That we know of.” Isa threw a pointed stare at Lea, who promptly flattened his ears guiltily. Something was <em>definitely</em> broken somewhere. “Thank you for the help. This would’ve been a nightmare to do on my own.”</p><p>“What’re friends for?” Skuld deflected with a smile.</p><p>“Heckling each other, mostly. But I guess being an extra set of hands is somewhere in the job description too.” He said airily as he shoved perishables into his empty fridge. That startled a laugh out of her.</p><p>They lapsed into an amiable silence after that, the only real interruption coming when Lea tried to climb into the fridge and run off with a cut of venison wrapped in butcher’s paper. They’d just finished up when Skuld’s gummiphone pinged.</p><p>“Looks like Ienzo’s done with his project.” She said, sending a reply and tucking her phone away again. “Time for me to head out.”</p><p>Isa stood up and pulled her into a hug.</p><p>“I’ll see you in a couple of days then. Thank you again for the help.”</p><p>They parted, Skuld bending down briefly to pat Lea on the head a couple of times before she made for the door. As she stepped outside waving goodbye, Bleu slipped in and the door closed behind him.</p><p>“Bleu.” The cat looked at him and then at Lea for a long, tense moment. And then he sauntered down the hall as if he hadn’t effectively been thrown out the night before. Isa released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He didn’t know why today was different, but he’d take it. Isa looked down at Lea. “Fingers crossed that spell on you wears off tonight.”</p><p>
  
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</div><p>The spell did <em>not</em>, in fact, wear off.</p><p>Isa woke more than an hour before sunrise and found Lea curled up in a ball next to him, pointed face hidden in his tail. No change. Isa couldn’t put an exact name on what he felt in that moment, but it felt something like bitterness. Maybe even the first prick of real fear for the permanence of the situation. He reached over and stroked Lea’s back.</p><p>“Merlin would’ve told me if this was one of those kissing curses, right?” He mumbled, unsure. Lea’s eyes cracked open and looked at him with tired curiosity. “Because if it is, this could’ve been over from the start.”</p><p>Now that the thought was in his head, he couldn’t quite shake the idea. What could it hurt to try?</p><p>He sat up, stretching until he felt something in his back pop and then reached over to grab a hair tie off of his bedside table. Lea perked up a bit more as he tied his hair up and switched on a lamp, fully awake now that it was clear that Isa wasn’t going to just lay back down. Isa leaned in before he could consider how silly he felt and planted a kiss between Lea’s eyes.</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>Lea blinked up at him, eyes wide and green and still far from truly familiar.</p><p>“It figures.” He muttered darkly. No point putting off his chores then.</p><p>Isa didn’t bother getting dressed. He wasn’t leaving the house and it was the day before Yule, he wasn’t expecting any visitors until Roxas and Xion came the next day to bring him to the Land of Departure with them. All he had to do was make sure he got all the cooking done and wrapped the gifts that’d been languishing in his closet. Time consuming tasks, all.</p><p>In the same way that it had become tradition for them to alternate who hosted the Yule party every year, it was also the same for who brought the food. If you weren’t hosting, you were on cooking duty. More than a few of them had become decently proficient cooks over the years. Because Isa was one of the only attendees that didn’t live at either of the usual places he often found himself helping Lea. This was the first time he’d ever had to do it on his own though.</p><p>He started with the stew. It was quick to set up and he didn’t have to babysit it while he did other things. He managed to get the first round of vegetables cut, sautéed and in the pot before Lea wandered in and made himself comfortable on the accent rug in front of the sink.</p><p>“I can’t wait to be able to talk with you again and not <em>at</em> you.” Isa groused, as he diced the venison he’d bought the day prior. “At this point I’d still do all the work even if you were back to normal. Anything to not feel like a hermit losing his mind in seclusion.”</p><p>He dumped the venison in the pan he’d sautéed the vegetables in, followed by butter and spices he’d mixed earlier. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Lea was much more interested in the meat he was cooking than he was being a sounding board for Isa’s problems. Isa exhaled and scooped a cube of meat out of the pan and tossed it to Lea—and then a second piece to Bleu when he sat in the doorway.</p><p>“That’s all either of you get. At least some of this needs to make it out of here tomorrow.” He finished browning the meat before it too went into the slow cooker. After he filled the rest of it with water, he glanced around his kitchen and realized that it would take up too much space when he started baking. “Alright then.”</p><p>He walked the slow cooker out into the living room and nearly made the grave mistake of setting it on the coffee table before diverting and placing it in a clear space on the mantle where his ‘helpers’ would have a more difficult time reaching it. Lea and Bleu looked openly disappointed by his forethought, their eyes boring into him from across the room. He’d probably have to chase Bleu away from it at some point anyway, but there was no way Lea could get to it without Isa catching him.</p><p>With his first task taken care of for the moment, Isa headed back to the kitchen to start the rest. After that, losing track of time was easy. Most of what he’d set aside to do was baking and prepping a handful of dishes to be cooked when they arrived at the party; fortunately there were very few of the latter. He’d gotten better in the kitchen since that first miserable year after his recompletion, but Lea still excelled at the ‘winging it’ aspect in a way he didn’t. Isa preferred the rigidity of baking. Clear instructions, little room for error.</p><p>It was calming, in its own way.</p><p>By the time he came up for air, his countertops and kitchen table were crowded with mixed ingredients, baking pans and cookie trays waiting for their turn in the oven and the sky outside had grown dark with the threat of more snow. Bleu had gotten bored sometime after the first hour and wandered off but Lea remained, alternating between seeing how many utensils he could abscond with and napping away in front of the sink where Isa could trip over him every time he went to wash his hands. It was a pleasant and frustrating distraction that he tolerated as he worked. The one real distraction he <em>allowed</em> himself was the ring in his pocket.</p><p>Every so often, he’d take it out just to look at it or set it somewhere where he could see it. He was a little glad to be alone if it meant that no one could see the dopey grin on his face.</p><p>“You know, I didn’t even consider what I’d say to you.” He said, as he threw more flour down on the countertop in front of him. It was getting hard to tell where the pale brick of his kitchen backsplash ended and all the flour began. When he was through, he’d probably spend more time cleaning than he did cooking. “Do I give a speech? I haven’t given one of those in a while and I think you and I can agree that emotion was never the intent while I was a mouthpiece for the Organization.”</p><p>He glanced at the cookbook he had open as he scooped dough onto the floured countertop. Next to him Lea sat patiently, either invested in what he was doing for the moment or waiting for an opportunity to cause mischief.</p><p>“Speeches aside, how do I even put how I feel about you into words?” It occurred to him that the predicament he and Lea had been in for the last few days was making him bold. It was always easy to talk to Lea, or, maybe it only <em>felt</em> easy because Lea always seemed to know what he was trying to say, but now he was just saying whatever came to mind. He wasn’t even like this when he was fully alone. “I could definitely just let my mouth do what it wants and see how embarrassing that turns out for me. I’m sure everyone would get a laugh out of it. I might not even get the chance to do anything if you don’t change back though.”</p><p>The image of him getting down on one knee for an apathetic little fox suddenly jumped to the forefront of his mind. ‘<em>Should I get down on one knee? That seems too traditional. And embarrassing.... It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve made a fool of myself for you though</em>.’</p><p>He chuckled dryly at the thought before lapsing into quiet again, shaping the dough out into cookies and positioning them on a tray. Lea yawned and drifted back over to the rug and curled up for another brief nap. He checked the clock above the stove. A few seconds early but a glance into the oven told him that everything was done.</p><p>“I’m lucky Aqua cooks regardless. I don’t think I’m going to make enough even with my kitchen filled up like this. And I still need to wrap presents.” Isa said, pulling cookie trays from the oven and immediately sliding the last batch of cookie trays in. He reset the timer and started scooping cookies onto cooling racks.</p><p>Lea jolted awake with a sudden yelp that almost had Isa throwing the tray in his hands.</p><p>“Something wrong with you?” Of course Lea couldn’t answer. Isa set the baking sheet down, losing interest in keeping the remaining cookies from burning as he watched Lea stretch, take a few steps towards the living room and then stretch with such an intensity that he just transitioned to rolling on the floor. Isa swallowed his growing alarm. “Lea?”</p><p>Lea whined and rolled over again, trying to press himself flat against the cool floor. After a moment of struggle against nothing, whatever had come over him seemed to pass and all the tension drained from his body.</p><p>Isa couldn’t tell if it was him shaking or Lea when he took him into his arms. Lea nuzzled into the crook of his neck.</p><p>“What was that?” Again, Lea was incapable of giving him an answer so he was left to ponder one himself. Isa glanced at the timer on the stove. “Let’s wrap presents while we wait. And… hopefully you don’t do that again.”</p><p>It’d looked like it hurt.</p><p>He set Lea on the couch as he walked by it and Lea seemed more or less content to stay where he was put, wrapping his tail around his legs and watching Isa as he went to the closet.</p><p>Isa had already wrapped the last of the gifts he’d gotten days before, so he just needed to work his way through what Lea had brought with him. It took him a few minutes to pull everything out into the living room and then find where he’d stowed the other odds and ends he kept around for wrapping. He stopped assembling what he needed, briefly, to check on the oven and put the starch vegetables into the slow cooker to cook for the last few hours.</p><p>“Now I just need to guess what belongs to who. You can score me tomorrow.” Isa said as he settled next to Lea, who didn’t give him much more of a reaction than to lay his head on Isa’s lap. He looked tired and not in the same way a spoiled house pet would. He looked genuinely bone tired. Isa scratched at his ears and neck soothingly before reaching into the first box.</p><p>Most of what he pulled out of the boxes were easy to identify and place. Things like a travel-sized jewelry kit for Aqua, who’d thrown herself more actively into her metalworking, or a nice jar filled with coarse sand, bone and pressed flowers for Xion. Some things, like the looper pedal (Roxas) and silver-handled pocket knife (Kairi) were a tad more difficult to discern the recipient for. All of the gifts tended to be small; trinkets and keepsakes or practical odds and ends. It made sense to keep how often most of them still travelled in mind.</p><p>He wrapped and labeled everything with his best guesses, alternating what paper he had to make all of the gifts a little more appealing when placed together. Lea didn’t bother him much for most of it, which he found himself worried and thankful for in equal measure.</p><p>“Nothing for me?” He asked, tying a ribbon around the last gift in the first box. Lea wagged his tail and relinquished no secrets.</p><p>With the halfway point reached, he extricated himself from Lea to pull the cookies from the oven and was finally able to turn it off so his house could cool a few degrees. Before he returned to finish with the gifts, he checked the stew one last time and pulled it off the heat. He set the pot on one of the few remaining stretches of space on his countertop to cool so he could slide it into his fridge.</p><p>After that, he returned to the couch to finish the gifts. The end was in sight, but the most daunting task—the clean up—still loomed ahead of him. Lea sat with him a while longer before he, like Bleu several hours before, slunk down the hall to find somewhere to sleep. Isa didn’t stop him.</p><p>It was well past midnight by the time Isa had managed to wash the dishes, scrub down his counters and bag up all the presents. Everything that could ache, did, and he dreaded how he was going to feel come morning. When he had slogged his way through his nightly ritual and made one last round of the house to make sure everything was done, he crawled into bed, gently moving Lea from his pillow to his proper spot.</p><p>There was no energy left in Isa for thought or worry about the next day. He laid his head down and closed his eyes and was asleep in an instant.</p><p>
  
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</div><p>He was freezing.</p><p>That was the first thing Isa registered. Groaning, he pulled the blankets tighter around himself and reached up to close the window above his bed only to find that it was already shut. Then it occurred to him that there was too much light in his room.</p><p>“Lea!?” Isa called, sitting bolt upright. The space beside him in bed was empty. Not immediately alarming, but he felt his stomach drop regardless. Suddenly wide awake, he snatched his gummiphone off the side table taking in the time first (he’d slept long past his usual alarm) and several messages from Roxas and Xion. They were on their way and he wasn’t anywhere approaching ready.</p><p>He shivered from head to toe when he set foot on the cold floor. The apartment was deathly silent as he wandered out into the hall in search of the draft that had woken him. He expected Lea to come greet him—be that as a man or a fox—but no one responded to his voice. “Lea, this isn’t funny.”</p><p>Isa stopped short as he entered the living room, a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature of the room running up his spine. The frame of the cat door had been ripped out, leaving a gaping hole where it used to be. A frigid breeze blew through it and a trail of snow marked its path through his house. There was a tuft of red fur caught on the jagged tear in the oak.</p><p>Isa swore. He swore again when his bare feet touched the snow. In the time it took him to drag on his boots and step outside, he’d managed to transition into curses so intense he’d be surprised if anything grew in the window boxes come spring.</p><p>He was halfway down the stairs when he saw two figures looking up at him.</p><p>“Isa?” There was a look on Roxas’s face that could be considered ‘perturbed’ on anyone else, but Roxas’s moods almost always swung into more intense territory. Isa glanced down at himself and realized that he must’ve looked completely out of his mind. He was still in his pajamas with his hair in a disheveled bun from the day before and from how hot his face felt, he must’ve looked irate.</p><p>“You’re not dressed.” Xion stated dumbly from Roxas’s side.</p><p>“Lea got out.”</p><p>That was all they needed to hear to shake off their surprise. They both started up the stairs.</p><p>“When?” He had to look up just a little to meet Xion’s eyes when they stopped on the same step as him. Roxas slid past them both to inspect the door, whistling lowly when he took in the extent of the damage.</p><p>“I have no idea, I only just woke up.” Isa thought about the snow all over the floor in his house and felt himself begin to panic. And then he felt ashamed. “It had to have been hours ago. I slept through it. We have to find him—if he’s still stuck that way he could get <em>hurt</em>.”</p><p>We shouldn’t panic just yet.” Xion gave him an assuaging look, taking one of his hands in theirs.</p><p>“I’m not panicking.” Isa lied. His mind was running a mile a minute with every worst case scenario he could think of. If one person caught sight of Lea and thought he was a danger to their gardens or their livestock that could be it. If Lea got out of the city he could get hurt. If he never changed back, they’d never find him.</p><p>“Sure.” Xion was clearly unconvinced. They looked up at Roxas. “We’re going to go look for Lea. You stay here in case he comes back.”</p><p>“I’ll tell everyone we’re going to be late.” Roxas said. Both of them made their way back down the stairs.</p><p>“We should split up. We’ll cover more ground that way.” Xion gave him a skeptical look, maybe not doubting his logic, but clearly doubting he was in the right state of mind to be left to his own devices. Isa sighed. “I promise I am not panicking. It’s just been a rough few days and this feels like a lot.”</p><p>“I’ll head towards Fountain Court, you head towards the gate.”</p><p>They parted, both walking briskly in opposite directions.</p><p>The streets were as empty as Isa expected them to be and that helped him cover more ground. It didn’t leave him with many people to ask for information though. Most shops weren’t open and everyone that hadn’t left town to see family would be indoors for most of the day. Occasionally, he’d see a cluster of children enjoying the snow or a few adults gabbing over hot drinks on their front steps, but otherwise it was as quiet as he’d ever seen it.</p><p>No one he asked had seen a strange red fox.</p><p>“He’s fine.” Isa told himself. “He’s been in much more danger, people have tried <em>much</em> harder to hurt him and he’s walked away from it. He’s fine.”</p><p>He checked his phone. No updates from Xion or Roxas, but he’d managed to cross town in record time. He wasn’t far from the gates to the outer gardens—or what was left of them. That area’d been low priority for reconstruction. Too many more practical projects kept finding their way to the top of the Committee’s list so it’d been left as a rocky, ruined buffer between castletown and the woods beyond. It was riddled with heartless, amongst other dangers, and the watch spent an embarrassing amount of their manpower chasing adventurous kids out of it.</p><p>Even if Lea didn’t make it to the trees, it would still be incredibly difficult to find him if he was outside the walls.</p><p>“Isa?”</p><p>Isa tightened his grip on his phone before he could drop it in his surprise, his head snapping up so quickly he nearly lost his balance.</p><p>There at the gates was Lea. Not the wild animal that had been tearing up his apartment for three days. No fur. No tail. <em>Lea</em>.</p><p>“Of course this is how you turn back!” Isa called, rushing to meet him. Lea looked the same as he had the day he’d been transformed, if a little more disheveled. He was visibly shivering; his fingers, nose and cheeks red with the cold. The last time he’d seen Lea that affected by the temperature, they’d both still been teenagers who couldn’t even dream up the kind of magic they’d be able to flaunt later in life. Lea hadn’t been himself for days though; Isa wasn’t shocked that he seemed a little too discombobulated to remember how easily he could wave away the elements with his fire magic.</p><p>“‘Turn back’?” His brows furrowed in confusion as Isa removed a couple of dead leaves from his hair. “I woke up in the woods…”</p><p>“How much do you remember?” Isa prodded. He took Lea’s freezing hands in his and held them close, trying to warm them a little. That seemed to be the only cue Lea needed to huddle against him, teeth chattering.</p><p>“Uh, something was going on at Merlin’s house? There was a dragon.”</p><p>“Wyrm.” Isa corrected, immediately rolling his eyes at the impulse. “Let’s just say you’ve been out of commission for a few days.”</p><p>“<em>Days</em>?!” Lea exclaimed hoarsely. He pulled away from Isa to search his face for any sign of an elaborate joke being played on him. Isa <em>wished</em> it had all been a joke.</p><p>“Why don’t I explain while we head back to the house. Roxas and Xion will want to know you’re ok.”</p><p>Lea nodded and allowed himself to be led away from the gates.</p>
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</div><p>Lea was more or less fine after a hot shower and an explanation of what had transpired after he’d been hit with Mim’s spell; confused, tired and clearly put out about losing several days he was looking forward to, but fine. That didn’t stop Isa, Roxas and Xion from emphasising how okay they would all be if he wanted to sit out the trip until he exasperatedly marched them all to the gummiship.</p><p>The Land of Departure didn’t lack seasons in quite the same way that a place like Twilight Town did, but it rarely got more than an inch or two of powdery snow during its fleeting winters. If any at all. Isa could see the frost clinging to the trees and grass as their gummiship came within sight of the main structure, but patches were already starting to melt away as the sun rose.</p><p>They touched down next to several other ships at the far edge of a training field where Ventus was waiting for them with a couple of Aqua’s apprentices.</p><p>“You guys are late.” He called as they stepped off the ship. While there was still some similarity in their faces, it surprised Isa every time he saw them standing next to each other how little Roxas and Ventus ended up resembling one another as they got older. They were both the same height, but Roxas had grown broad in the shoulders from years of wielding two keyblades and his hair had darkened with age. Ventus remained reedy and quick, his gold-blond hair shorn close to his skull.</p><p>“Yeah, sorry, we had a bit of an incident this morning. It took us a bit longer to get ready.” Lea said. His bright expression swung quickly into confusion and then to annoyance when one of the apprentices grabbed the wrapped tray of cookies out of his hands and started up the path to the keep. Isa couldn’t help but laugh. Lea’s stint as a twenty-pound ball of property damage was definitely funny now that it was behind them, but everyone was obviously not over the initial scare. Lea was probably going to have to put up with kid gloves for the duration of this year's festivities.</p><p>“‘Incident’ sounds like an understatement to me.” Ventus said, pointedly looking at Roxas while he heckled Lea. He held his arms out for Xion to stack presents onto. Next to them, Aqua’s youngest apprentice made her way down the ship’s ramp with the pot of stew.</p><p>“Isa’s place <em>was</em> a wreck.” Roxas confirmed with a sage nod.</p><p>“Oh, everyone knows?” Lea threw a pleading look at Isa, reaching for something else to carry before having it too snatched up by someone else. Isa gave him a sympathetic look, but made no move to back him up.</p><p>“The fact that you thought something like that would stay under wraps for more than a couple of hours is charming.”</p><p>“Guess I should’ve expected it, yeah.” Lea sighed.</p><p>The extra hands made emptying the gummiship easy and after only a few minutes they were all walking in a line up to the keep. Terra and Skuld greeted them at the door, grabbing whatever food hadn’t been brought up with the apprentices and taking it to the kitchen to finish it. Baked goods and gifts came with them to the main hall where most everyone was waiting.</p><p>Seasonal décor in the main hall was rarely elaborate and didn’t need to be when the opulence of the room made everything seem grander. Simple garland and boughs of pine hung along banisters and window frames. A handsome tree had been stood and decorated in the center of the room, so many gifts piled under its branches that Isa was sure it wasn’t actually touching the floor anymore. Seating had been dragged in from other parts of the keep so people could rest if they wanted to and on the far side of the hall were two tables laden with food and drinks.</p><p>Sora, Riku and Aqua were talking animatedly next to the punch bowl as they came up the stairs. Kairi, upon seeing them arrive, excused herself from the conversation she was having with Namine and walked briskly up to Lea, pulling him into a hug so tight he grunted in pained surprise.</p><p>“Hey to you too, kid.” He wheezed, returning the hug. With Lea distracted, Isa took the opportunity to break from the group. He went to the tree and, when he was sure that Lea couldn’t see him, he carefully tucked the ring box in the tree’s branches for later. This both alleviated some of the nerves that had been building up since he’d seen Lea human again and set his stomach rolling with anticipation. He made his way to the bowl of cider, ignoring the knowing look that Aqua gave him and poured himself a drink.</p><p>“What’re you going to say?” Aqua asked, sidling closer to him so she could keep her voice low. Isa downed his glass in one go, not missing the unmistakable burn of the alcohol before refilling it.</p><p>“No clue.” Which was true. “I figure I’ll just, say what comes to mind and hope it sounds romantic enough that I don’t completely humiliate myself.”</p><p>Aqua laughed.</p><p>“I think sounding romantic is going to have the opposite effect.”</p><p>“Did all of you just wake up at some point in the last week or so and choose to be bullies?” He hissed, feigning offense. The smile she hid in the rim of her own glass told him she knew that it was all in good fun. Isa looked out over the rest of the room where everyone had broken up into little groups to chat again. Lea was surrounded by several of their friends as they all showed him something on their phones. There was color rising high on his cheeks— not from the cold this time but from embarrassment—as he talked excitedly. He was probably going to see every picture taken of him over the last three days before the party was over. Isa smiled. “Might as well accept it, then.”</p><p>“It’s for the best.” Aqua said, patting him on the shoulder as she brushed past him and towards the stairs. Probably going to help Terra and Skuld in the kitchen.</p><p>With everyone finally in one place, the day proceeded as they’d all originally intended. After all the food was finished and placed on the table, everyone gathered to open presents. It was slow-going, even with both Sora and Terra passing them out (Vanitas would’ve been faster, but he’d been given the task once, three years prior and only long enough to lob three gifts at their recipients before Aqua barred him permanently from that chore). It took them well over an hour to distribute and open all the gifts, the tree looking strangely bare by the end.</p><p>Normally, the room would’ve cleared a bit, everyone placing their hauls out of the way so the festivities could move on to food and games, but there was an expectant air. Isa clenched his hands in his pockets to keep from picking at the nicely bound almanac Skuld had gotten him.</p><p>He had just worked up the nerve to stand and retrieve the ring from its hiding place when Lea got up. Isa looked at the rest of their friends and not a single one met his eyes. He knew instantly. <em>You’re all the <b>worst</b></em>.</p><p>Lea grabbed something from one of the higher branches on the tree, on the opposite side of where Isa’s was hidden. He’d probably tucked it there while Isa was talking to Aqua earlier. Isa stared dumbfounded as Lea came to sit next to him.</p><p>“So, I know it’s been a long time since we talked about it,” Lea started, pausing to take a breath. That blush on his face from earlier was back again. Something in Isa’s brain stuttered; disbelief and juvenile competitiveness colliding with his sudden desire to let what was happening run its course. “,but I figured what with the Restoration Committee winding down and my Mark of Mastery out of the way⸺”</p><p>“<em>NO</em>!!” Isa even startled himself with the force in his voice. Lea—and everyone else in the room—stared at him with varying levels of disbelief and surprise. Lea’s mouth clicked shut, his eyes going glassy. Isa leaned forward quickly, pressing an insistent kiss against Lea’s mouth and cradling his face in his hands. He pulled away, maybe an inch, and then leaned for another kiss that was less insistent than the first. “Just give me a second, you’ll understand.”</p><p>Lea nodded, the hurt in his eyes replaced by curiosity.</p><p>Isa reluctantly pulled away from him and stood, making his way over to the tree. When he reached in and yanked the ring box out of its hiding place, he did so with maybe a bit more aggression than necessary. A handful of dry pine needles shook loose, as well as a couple of ornaments. Lea laughed wetly when he caught sight of what Isa was holding.</p><p>“Why are we like this?” He asked, sounding near hysterics. This seemed to be enough to break some of the tension that had built up in the room after Isa's outburst, a murmur of laughter passing through their watching friends. Isa returned to Lea.</p><p>“You ate my throw pillows and I’m going to have to replace my front door, I think it’s only fair.” Isa stated, cracking open the ring box in his hand so that Lea could see it. Isa didn’t know if there was a name for the emotions that passed over Lea’s face. “I had a whole speech prepared—or, no, I’d been planning on giving a speech, but you’ve always been better at thinking on the fly than me. You’ll have to wait for vows. I just...”</p><p>Isa trailed off, swallowing heavily and searching for the right words to say. There was so much he wanted to say and he could feel it all bubbling up at the same time.</p><p>“You’ve been in my life longer than I’ve ever been without you and I don’t ever want that to change.” It was the root of everything, but it still felt like it wasn’t enough. It would have to do. Carefully, Isa removed the ring from its box and took Lea’s hand. “I’ve wanted to do this for longer than I’d like to admit. It feels overdue.”</p><p>The ring slid easily onto Lea’s finger, stark against his skin. Isa traced his thumb over it to feel the gems like he had when he’d first seen it finished.</p><p>“Can I… Now?” Lea asked, staring at the band on his finger for a moment longer before looking at Isa. </p><p>“Yes.” <em>Now that I’ve won.</em></p><p>The ring Lea offered Isa was a perfect match to the one he’d had made; slim gold band, sparsely encrusted with polished rubies. Red stars on a gold sky. It matched so much that he could only say that it was made by the same craftswoman or the same input had gone into its making. Or both. Isa glared across the room to where Roxas, Xion and Skuld were watching without a shred of shame. They didn’t even have the decency to look away.</p><p>“I think you and I have been played.” Isa whispered as Lea put the ring on his hand. He was under no impression that everyone hadn’t heard and he didn’t care. He was… so happy. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to Lea’s, not going in for another kiss, even if it was on his mind.</p><p>“I think I’ll take that over having to wait anymore.” There was an earnestness in his voice that Isa hadn’t heard in a long time. The honest truth.</p><p>Isa couldn't agree more.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is, hands down, the longest fic I've written for any fandom I've been in and it feels really good to have finished something like it. Several of the longer projects that I've had on the backburner have been moved up my list now that completing them doesn't seem like a herculean task. </p><p>I'm so happy that I got to work with all the amazing people involved in this event and I hope that I get to again.</p><p>Credit for the art (in order) goes to <a href="https://twitter.com/shyrstyne">Shyrstyne</a> and <a href="chibiranmaruchan.tumblr.com">Antonia</a>. I'd also like to thank my editor <a href="https://twitter.com/moonsdeity">Moonsdeity</a>. They, including our mods, were a fantastic group to work with.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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